And I Stand At the Edge
by witchinghour
Summary: This fic has ben discontinued until further notice.I have looked it over, and found that I disgusted myself with the Mary Sue.....Yikes!
1. Prologue: And I Stand at the Edge

And I Stand At the Edge 

And I Stand At the Edge 

(Written by Juu-chan)

"The uncertainty scares me

But uncertainty is part of the thrill…"

She stood staring at the edge of the cliff. Her eyes were distant and her hair blew in the wind, unheeded. She hated this waiting; the knowing that something was about to happen, but not knowing when or where. She could sense a large ki signature in the area, though it was well masked. Seeing through ki masks had been the first lesson in her training. The power level would be easy for her to beat, should she need to, but before she could do anything, she needed to know where the ship was going to land. She could not yet see the ship; from what she could tell, it wouldn't be on the earth for another half-hour. This was the hard part. She tapped further into the ki signature, until she could tell which direction the ship was heading. West. It would land to the left of Hope City. About thirty miles from the city, one hundred from where she was now. She wondered for a moment if Earth's Special Forces had sensed the power yet, then wondered how they would have. She was the only who had been taught how to "see" through ki masks; they couldn't have felt it, not even the most powerful of them. She thought about telling them, but decided not to. She could defeat this baka before they even knew what was going on. Probably. It was always possible that whoever this enemy was had more than one form. She thought about using telepathy on the enemy; she'd fought enemies with multiple forms before. She decided not to quickly. Magic of any form was tiring, and if the enemy had more than one form, or was better than she thought at hiding its ki, she would need her strength. She would know soon enough. She took off at a leisurely pace toward the site at which the ship was to land. She would be there when it did.

* * * * *

She landed at the site with a good ten minutes to spare, wondering why the ship had to be so slow. She'd been flying slowly and it hadn't taken her half an hour! She could have been there less than second if she had chosen to teleport, or even less than ten minutes flying quickly. She sighed and settled on a rock, almost certain that the Z team would be there soon. She hadn't hidden her ki because she really didn't care if they felt her power. She could take care of the battle herself, but if the enemy had multiple forms that somehow made it much, much stronger than even she, which she sincerely doubted, she could use some help. If she didn't need them, and didn't ask for their help, she hoped they would have the good sense to stay out of her way.

Ten minutes later, she watched the ship land. Actually, she felt it before she saw it. Its size was massive, and it blew a great deal of air around. She could feel several ki signatures rising; obviously, some of the Z fighters were considerably weak, having to raise their ki to stand still in the intense winds. Her eyes shone with the same intense blue fire that they did before every battle she fought. Though she didn't necessarily enjoy having to kill people, fighting made blood race. That was the enjoyable part. The ship triggered a vague memory, but she shrugged it off. Unfortunately, she could not shrug off who the enemy was. "Frieza," she hissed under her breath, clenching her teeth to keep from rushing headlong into a battle. That would be foolish, and she was never foolish. She assessed Frieza's power level quickly, and nearly laughed aloud. It was extremely low compared to her own. This battle shouldn't take more than a few minutes. And his father's ki wasn't much higher.

Frieza and his father stood side by side, assessing the girl in front of them even as she assessed them. Her hair fell to her shoulders in blue-black waves, and her eyes shone with a deep blue fire. The gem that was imbedded in her forehead seemed to shine with the same fire, and her clothing was extremely revealing. A dark blue tank top, low cut around the neck, but showing her mid-drift, hugged her body tightly, as did her blue-jeans. Her shoes were also dark blue, sneakers worn with no socks. 

Frieza started as he looked at the girl. She looked like a child whose family he had killed long ago, from the planet Samura-sie, a planet of powerful warriors. He had been worried about their growing power, so had eliminated the planet. He couldn't quite remember her name. "You! I remember you! I killed you and your family years ago!!"

"No, you killed my family years ago. They sent me away right before the planet was destroyed."

"Don't tell me I'm supposed to fight **you**!! You were so insignificant, I don't even remember your name! What are you, twelve? Thirteen?"

"Almost seventeen. And I have power beyond your imagination," she said quietly.

"Is that so? Well, I'm guess I'll have to show that against me, you will always be nothing! You hear me, **nothing**!!"

"We'll see." She was quite calm; losing her temper now could be a fatal folly. She had learned long ago that when you were so angry that you couldn't see straight, it was extremely hard to aim. When you began destroying large amounts of buildings, it was a fair sign that you were becoming pissed off.

Frieza began to laugh as he watched her. His laugh was cut short abruptly as her flickered yellow and her eyes green. She continued to power up until she was nearly into the second level of Super Saiya-jin, though she was still far from her full power. This wasn't even half of what she could do. She smirked. This would be an easy battle indeed.

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Author's Note & Disclaimer-DBZ is not mine, nor are the characters therein, but the Super Saiya-jin in this chapter-you will find out who she is later-is mine, as is this fanfiction. Please do not take them ^_^*

Sorry about the length of this chapter; it was kind of short, but I'll try to make the next one a little longer. It will be out soon I hope. I'm going to try really hard on this, so bear with me. PLEASE REVIEW!!! If I don't get many reviews, I'm going to stop posting the story. I'm going to try to make this a good story, but if I don't know what you people think about it, I won't know whether to continue it or not. Ja ne!

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	2. ...Of Battle

…Of Battle

…Of Battle

"Immediate simplicity

Can disguise difficulty…"

Frieza hissed and fired a blast at her. She smirked. He should have powered up. She deflected the blast with a careless flick of her wrist, then looked up at Frieza. "Aim next time and you might stand of chance of burning my fingertips," she taunted. 

A growl this time. Frieza was getting pissed off. He gathered a bigger ball of energy and threw it at her. This time, she dodged. "Now what did I just tell you about aiming?" she lectured. It was fun to piss Frieza off, and it wasn't like he could get within fifty feet of her anyway. She may as well have some fun, if she couldn't have a good battle.

Frieza's face was beginning to get red. "You little bitch!!" he shouted. "If I can't destroy you, I'll destroy the whole damn planet!!" A large ball of glowing red energy began to form in his hand.

She smirked as he threw the ball. She caught it effortlessly. "I think you dropped something!" she called. She threw it back at him with such force and speed, he never had a chance. He was obliterated before he could even scream. "Your turn," she said in an almost singsong voice at King Cold, Frieza's father. She pulled out her sword; it made a steely hiss as it came out of its scabbard. It sounded almost angry. King Cold backed away.

"Y-y-you can't hurt me! I'm invincible!" He tried with all his might to look unafraid.

"Watch me. You killed my family, King Cold, and my planet, and with them, you killed me. You won't get away with it." Her voice was deadly quiet. A flash of the sword in the sunlight and a bright flash of hot light, and Cold was gone. She slid the sword back into its sheath and turned toward the crowd of Z fighters that had gathered on a plateau nearby. She said nothing, but one of them, a short man with a head of black hair that looked like an oversized candle flame, called to her.

"You! How can you transform into a Super Saiya-jin!?" He seemed angry. She didn't want to shout, so she motioned for them to come down to her. The short man with the candle hair came first, followed by the others. Last was another short man with no hair at all.

She took mental inventory; she knew what all of the Z fighters looked like because she had often watched them fight. The one with the candle flame hair was Vegeta; the other short one was Krillin. The one with three eyes was Tien, and the couple-the blue-haired woman and the tall man with short black hair and a weak power level- were Bulma and Yamcha. The green alien was Piccolo; the child was Gohan. The clown-looking one was Choutzou.(spelling?) The one called Goku wasn't there. _He must be the one I felt Frieza passing earlier, _she mused. She had a lot of respect for the Saiya-jin man. He was relatively strong, though against her now she doubted he'd last longer than a few hours, and against her at her maximum, he wouldn't last more than five minutes, if that. 

"Who the hell are you, girl?" Vegeta all but yelled at her, breaking her thoughts. "How can you go Super Saiya-jin? Kakarott and I are the only Saiya-jins left, and his brat-" he motioned to Gohan-"is half Saiya-jin!"

"As am I. Call me Iya Tamashii. You don't need to know anything else." She didn't really want to tell them anything else. It really wasn't any of their business. 

"What kind of a name is 'No Soul?'"

"Mine. If you don't like it, just call me Tamashii." He was truly pissing her off. She didn't need his criticism. It was her name, or at least the one she went by. It wasn't her real one, but only she and a very few people that she'd met knew that name. She hadn't wanted to tell him anything in the first place. 

"Not much better," he grumbled, but shut up. He wasn't going to get anything else out of her, and he could recognize a losing battle when he saw one, though he didn't like to admit that he could lose a battle.

"Goku is coming. I know where he'll land. Come if you want; I'm going now." She lifted off into the sky. 

Gohan was the first to come, followed by the others. 

The young boy quickly caught up with her, mainly because she wasn't flying very fast. She had two hours to kill; no need to overdo it. "Uh…Miss, how do you know where my dad will land?" The boy asked timidly.

She smiled softly, a very faint smile, but it was there. "I was tracking Frieza from outer space. I felt it when he passed your dad, because your dad is also very powerful. He should be here in two hours; his ship travels slower than Frieza's."

"Oh." Gohan smiled up at her. He was going to see his dad again! Wouldn't his mom be surprised! He noticed right way that she was not one to waist words. She said what she needed to say in as few words as possible. When she added an explanation, it was short and to the point. He wondered how she had gotten her power. She was amazingly strong. Maybe she would train him! If his mom would let her, which he doubted she would. Oh well. His dad might, as long as they didn't tell his mother. If he could see his dad, nothing else would matter anyway.

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AN: Not the best, the first one was better, but I'm hoping the next one will be even better. Again, review please, so that I'll know whether or not to continue. Also, I plan on putting up a glossary of Japanese words that I use so that everyone will know what I'm taking about. Ja ne!


	3. ...Of Revelation

…Of Revelation

…Of Revelation

"We all have our own risks to take

But mine may be the most dangerous of all."

Tamashii sighed to herself. This would be harder than she had thought. Vegeta was sure to try and figure out who she really was, and if he figured that out, she could very well be killed. He wasn't strong enough to kill her, but he could get stronger, and it would be his right to execute her. She had committed treason, or was the result of treason, at least: her Saiya-jin father had left the planet of Vegeta-sie and mated with her mother, a Samura-jin. The Samura-jins were considered Vegeta-sie's enemies because of a several century-long enmity between the two planets. She was the result of this mating, so Vegeta had every right to kill her simply because she bore the blood of the Samura-jins. She could do nothing to stop him unless she could prove that her father had left the planet, as he had, because he had been "gifted" with Future Sight, as had a very few Saiya-jins in the past. He had Seen the destruction of Vegeta-sie and had warned the king, but he had paid the man no heed. He had also forbidden Saiya-jin women from mating with him. He had left the planet, but his ship had malfunctioned and he had landed on Samura-sie. Because the people of the planet were passive and forgiving, they had not killed him, and had even allowed him to mate among them. He had done so merely to keep the Saiya-jin race at least partially alive. The only gifts she had from her parents were magic, ki, and her name-Takara. She was startled out of her thoughts as her ki sensors, still locked onto Goku's ki signature, warned her that she was at the sight at which he was to land. She descended, and the others followed.

"One and a half hours. You may as well make yourselves as comfortable as you can." She thought for a moment. "Gohan, I need you over here for a moment."

The boy scurried over.

"Someone's coming, someone other than you father. I need to figure out who it is, and I need your help for that. You can see your father in the process, which is why I want **you **to be the one to help me; I thought you might be interested."

Gohan nodded vehemently. "Can you really let me see my father?!"

"Only for a moment before we move on, but yes. I can use magic; I'm very good at it in fact. Don't let anyone know. I got the gene from my mother. I need you on my left." The boy quickly shifted position. "You're going to feel slightly weak for a few hours after this because I need to use some of your power as well as mine to make this work." She began to mutter an incantation in a language no one but she understood. The ground under the tow of them seemed to shift, then disappear, and they were standing in space. She locked ki sensors first onto Goku; both nearly laughed aloud: he was sleeping.

She turned, Gohan's hand in hers, and found the ki that was the purpose for this. She locked on and…God, he wasn't even from this dimension. Shit. If she was still going to do this, she'd need to go back and gather more energy, not to mention the fact that no matter how much energy she gathered, it would still be dangerous for both her and the boy. She broke off he incantation and let go of the ki, and they "returned" to earth.

"Um…Did you find what you were looking for?"

"I found it, but I can't lock onto it. Go back to your friends and try not to get involved in any fights for another few hours. I have to do this part alone. Keep your friends from following me as long as you can, no matter what." She lifted off into the air, heading toward any deserted island she could find.

She landed on a small island with no people around for several miles in any direction. Perfect. She powered up until she was well into Super Saiya-jin two, then as quickly as she could, masked her now massive ki. They wouldn't be able to follow her. She began her incantation again, changing some of the words slightly for an inter-dimensional search. Again, the ground beneath her seemed to move, then disappear, as she contacted the young time-traveler's mind.

"Who are you?" she directed, sending him the thought.

"What…what the hell's going on!?" His voice was cracking.

"Speak through your mind, not your mouth. My name is Tamashii. Along with many other things, I'm a half-breed Saiya-jin. Who are you?"

"T-Trunks. Why the hell are you contacting me in my mind? **How** the hell are you contacting me in my mind!?" 

"It's extremely difficult to explain. I needed to know who you were and if you bore any threat to earth."

"No, I don't. I'll be landing in a few minutes; I need to give Son Goku something."

"All right." She broke contact and fell to the ground, powering down and lowering her ki shield. She was unconscious within minutes.

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AN: Short, sorry. Better than the last one, though! I'll try to get he next one out soon. Please review!!!!


	4. ...Of Execution

…Of Execution

…Of Execution

"Discovery means

The worst dishonor…"

She woke to the sound of a deep, angry growl and automatically tensed. At least her reflexes were still working. Her eyes opened and she scanned the room quickly, noticing the Saiya-jin prince almost immediately.

"Why didn't you tell me who you were, Samura-jin?"

"Because you would have executed me. And I'm not completely Samura-jin. I'm half Saiya-jin."

"Your father was that disgusting traitor, Toma, and your mother was Arja the bitch. Give me one good reason not to call a traitor-claim on you, girl."

Her power level began to rise as she listened to his insults of her parents. Using every ounce of the iron control that she'd built over her years of voluntary isolation, she remained calm, but still spoke through clenched teeth. "Because me father died attempting to shoot Frieza's ship out of the sky before it reached Vegeta-sie and destroyed you and the rest of the Saiya-jins, and the Samura-jins, including my mother, died helping. I'm only alive because my mother sent me away when I was four, right before the attack. I turned Super Saiya-jin for the first time that day, watching Frieza rape and kill my mother, and tear my father apart limb from limb. I was too far by then to be of any use, but unfortunately, I got a small portion of my father's Future Sight, and saw it all right before it happened." She was crying by then, and she wiped her tears away angrily. She was too strong to cry, damn it! 

"I'm sorry," the ouji whispered. He hadn't meant to make her cry.

"You damn well should be. So am I," she hissed. She swallowed her tears and stood, ignoring the horrible pain in her head that the motion caused.

"What the hell happened, anyway? We felt your power level go down considerably, and I didn't want you to die and deny me a good spar."

"You don't need to know what happened. I used up just a bit too much energy is all. I'll be fine; I just shouldn't do what I was doing for a couple of days. What time is it?"

"Kakarott will be coming in about fifteen minutes, from what you said earlier."

"Shit. Then the boy will be here in five."

"What boy? Did that energy use addle your brains, girl?"

"Nothing. You'll meet him in minute. Are the others still at the place that I said Goku would land?"

"Yes."

"Good. That'll make this much easier. Grab my hand. I'm going to teleport. It'll get us there faster."

He listened, for once, and grabbed her hand. They phased out of the room and abruptly, the scenery changed, and they were back around the others.

Tamashii smirked to herself. _At least he didn't call traitor-claim. I'd be in two pieces on the ground if he had, and I wouldn't be much help then, now would I? If he'd opted to execute me…_she let that thought trail off; she didn't enjoy thinking of herself in two pieces. It was rather unsettling. Now all she had to do was sit for a couple of minutes, until the boy got there. She sighed and settled herself to the ground to regain her strength. It was definitely time to get a little bit of rest, if not actual restful, peaceful sleep or relaxation, both of which she rarely got unless she was unconscious. Only a couple minutes now. Then she could find out who this strange boy was, and what that hint of sadness and darkness she had felt in his mind had been.

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AN: I tried my best to make this a good chapter; please don't flame me. I KNOW Vegeta was OOC, but I had to make him fit into the chapter. Sorry. Review, please, so that I can decide whether or not to continue. I know this chapter took a little longer than the others-sorry. OK, I'll get the next chapter out as soon as I can, but I haven't even started it yet, soooo……Well. ^_^* Babye, I'll get the next chapter out soon!!!!!!!


	5. ...Of Secrecy

…Of Secrecy

…Of Secrecy

"Keeping away from others

Can be the only way to protect yourself…"

Tamashii sat with her back against a tree; it looked like a careless position, but in reality, it was logical. No one could sneak up on her if she had her back to a tree. Not that they could sneak up on her anyway. Her eyes were closed, but she was very alert, paying attention to every movement, every sound. Nothing escaped her. She felt, even before the others, the boy's time machine, for she knew already that that was what it had to be from talking to him telepathically an hour or so before. "He's here," she said flatly. Her voice betrayed none of her anxiety. If he had felt her lying in those few moments that her mind had been inside his, all hell could break loose. It was not a good idea to lie in your mind when you spoke telepathically; if the person you were "speaking" to figured it out, it could be very difficult to get them to trust you again. Of course, that all depended on whether they had trusted you in the first place. If not, then you'd have one hell of a time getting them to trust you at all.

They stood to greet the strange man. She crossed her arms and stood with a strange look on her face. She didn't look necessarily angry, and definitely not worried, more like…solemn. And perhaps sad. Definitely sad. Depressed? One might have said that. _He's so lucky, _she thought, her thought barely more than a whisper in the dark corners of her mind. She had caught glimpses of sadness in "his" mind. Trunks. The name had an odd sound to it. The thoughts she had managed to catch in his mind without actually prying were brief, but she had seen the androids, and she had seen an oddly colored woman. Her hair, anyway. Her hair had been gray, but it had faint traces of both lavender—the color of the boy's, as she had gotten it from "speaking" to him—and aqua. She guessed that the woman was Trunks' mother; only a very few people had that color hair. When she spoke to someone "that way," she got a picture of them in her mind, a kind of visual phone, her mother had explained it. She had seen a young man with a fierce scowl of confusion, short lavender hair, and sad blue eyes. You also got, when you spoke that way, a brief, fuzzy view of what that person was thinking. She had seen 17 and 18, and his mother handing him a small vial. She wasn't sure of what was in it, though she guessed that it was fairly important. _At least he still has someone. I don't have anyone anymore. _The tears once again built up in her eyes, but she forced herself to blink them back. Tears were for the weak. She didn't necessarily believe it, but she was afraid that if she didn't, her entire carefully constructed world would fall down around her feet, and that she would drown in her tears of pain. So she pretended to believe, pretended that she could hear her father telling her, and in some ways, she really could.

She was jolted back to the present as she heard a man gasp. _Oh shit. I'm in for it now. He recognized me; I shouldn't have forgotten that he would. I should have left until later, when I could talk to him alone. _Oh well. Too late now. "If you want to talk about it," she said before he could speak, "then we'll go away from the others. They don't really need to know." _You don't either, but I suppose you're entitled to a little explanation. _"Goku won't arrive for another ten minutes."

He stared at her, stunned. How did she know when Goku would arrive!? He nodded, though reluctant, and allowed her to lead him to an area a safe distance away, where not even the Namek, Piccolo, could hear them talk; she didn't want anyone that didn't have to to hear her.

"Who are you?" he asked again. Maybe she'd give him something besides her name this time.

"I already told you that. I'm a half-breed Saiya-jin; my name is Tamashii." Her voice held none of the almost overpowering emotions she was feeling.

"I mean, what race is the other half? How can you speak telepathically? How can you speak through different dimensions? Why did you lie to me?"

She winced at the last question, then sighed. "I'm half Samura-jin, and magic is a gift of that race. The rest of my people were exterminated long ago; I was only four, and my parents sent me away. I used magic to speak to you, and believe me, it wasn't easy. I could have done much easier it if you hadn't been time traveling. I lied to you because you didn't need to know what I didn't want to tell you. If you insist, my real name is Takara, but I don't want you to use it around the others. Is there anything else you need to know?"

He stared at her in wide-eyed awe, then pulled himself back to reality. "How do you know when and where Goku will arrive, and what dimension are you from? When you spoke to me telepathically, I saw glimpses of the androids in your mind. They haven't even been released here yet, so you can't be from here."

She silently cursed herself for her stupidity. He was a half-breed just like she was; she should have guessed that from his high, familiar power level. Of course he could catch her thoughts; although Saiya-jins couldn't contact people telepathically, they could "see" brief thoughts just like she could, unless the person contacting them had a strong mental shield. She should have put up a stronger one before contacting him. "I know where Goku will land and when because I felt him when I felt Frieza, and took a moment before following the lizard's ki to figure out when he would land and whether or not it would be soon. I decided to wait here and see him on a whim, just because I want to know whether he'll be a good sparring partner or not. I have a lot of respect for him; he was the first to reach Super Saiya-jin level in well over a thousand years. My dimension…" Her voice became choked as tears began to impede her vision. "My dimension is even worse than yours."

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AN: Konnichiwa!! I'm trying, honest!! I'm doing good! Please review and tell me if I should continue. A little cliffhanger, sorry 'bout that. I'll get the next chapter out as soon as I can, I promise!! School ended on the 15th, and that's why I've been getting them so fast. I'm going places over the summer, though, so I'll try to tell you people if I won't be updating for a while. I haven't started the next chapter yet, so bear with me. Ja ne!! ^_^*


	6. ...Of Reunion

…Of Reunion

…Of Reunion

"Revealing secrets can be hard

But it can be much harder to keep them…"

Trunks stared at her, startled. How did she know about his time? He hadn't told her, and he didn't **think** she would have read his mind. "What…what do you mean? How do you know about my time?" This was seriously disturbing.

"I caught glimpses in your mind of your timeline-the androids, your mother, your friends-while I was "talking" to you."

"Wha-" He stopped abruptly and looked up. "He's here," he announced with something of a joyful expression on his face. 

"I know." Her voice was dull and contained a slightly depressed tone.

His expression darkened. "We'll continue this later," he told her flatly. It almost sounded like a warning.

She gave him a hard, almost angry stare. "Don't threaten me. You won't like the results."

He jumped at her tone. "Sorry," he apologized. "I didn't mean to threaten you. I just…I don't like the fact that you can read my mind. It makes me uncomfortable."

"I won't," she promised. "I got the same glimpses you got. I wasn't purposely prying. I don't do that unless there's some information that I **really** need to know." She smiled, a smile that was sincere, but did not light up her eyes the way her smiles used to. She never smiled that way anymore; not since her parents had died when she was four. She couldn't do those even if she tried anymore. She wasn't happy enough for those smiles. 

He nodded simply. "Thanks. Lets go meet Goku."

"All right." She silently hoped he hadn't felt her power level, though she wasn't sure how he could have. If he hadn't, it would be a lot easier. She followed Trunks back to the others. She smiled again as she saw Gohan and the others, all except Trunks, Piccolo, and Vegeta, gathered around a tall man with spiked black hair and a cheerful, somewhat clue-less smile. _That must be Goku. _She hung back; she didn't know the man. She heard him call out to Vegeta and Piccolo, then heard the confusion in his voice as he looked at her and Trunks.

"Who are they?"

Piccolo spoke up, his voice gruff. She figured that was the way the man usually spoke. "The boy came in a time machine ten minutes ago, wanting to speak to you. He hasn't chosen to give us his name. The girl says her name is Iya Tamashii, but that we should call her Tamashii. She's strong, and I doubt that she's even gone to half of her full power. She's also secretive; we know almost nothing about her aside from her name. It's probably not even her real one." She could sense his distrust of her, and knew that he had good reason. No one in their right mind would name they're child "No Soul," and very few people had the kind of secretive, hostile quality that she had. She heard him speak again, and listened to him intently without actually seeming to. "She says that she also wants to speak with you."

"Oh. Well…Okay."

Trunks stepped forward. "Goku, I'd like to talk to you…over there." He scanned the area and pointed out an empty, high-ridged clearing. 

Goku nodded. "All right."

Tamashii stayed back with the others. She knew all of what was being said. She whispered a quick, simple spell and almost instantly, she could clearly hear all of what was being said. At one point, when Goku flashed into Super Saiya-jin, she nearly laughed aloud at the others' startled looks. At another, she turned and looked at Bulma, noting the resemblances between her and the boy. She did the same with Vegeta. She had guessed at it before, but now that the boy had said it, she was certain. After a while, Trunks and Goku returned. She turned to Goku, all the while murmuring the counter-spell to the hearing spell. "I don't need to speak with you, Goku. I simply wanted to meet the first man to turn Super Saiya-jin in several thousand years. You have my respect." She began to blast off into the sky when the blue-haired woman called for her to stop.

"You two-" Bulma said, nodding at Tamashii and Trunks "-can stay with me if you like. We have plenty of room at the Capsule Corporation complex."

After brief hesitation, both nodded. "Thank, Miss Briefs," Tamashii said gratefully. Sleeping on the rocky dirt floor of the cave she called her temporary home was getting a little old.

Bulma threw a capsule, hopped into the blue convertible that appeared, and took off, followed by her old friends and the two newcomers. 

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AN: Review, people!!!!!!!! Kind of boring, I know, but I'm trying as hard as I can, so bear with me. I'm not getting any reviews, and it's starting to make me depressed. I don't mean to beg, but I **do** need reviews. Babyeee!!!!!


	7. ...Of Depression

…Of Depression

…Of Depression

"Drawing into yourself

Can be more dangerous than a hundred battles…"

Tamashii was startled out of her thoughts by a loud, determined knock on the door of the guest bedroom she had been given in Capsule Corporation. She stood quietly and opened the door, already knowing who it was. 

"Hello, Trunks," she greeted formally.

He nodded abruptly. "What were you talking about?" Even his voice was determined.

She sighed. "When I said that my dimension is worse than yours?" A nod. She turned and sat on the bed, motioning him to a chair as she did. "I meant just what I said: My dimension is worse than yours. It…It's hard to talk about. I guess that it's not even a different dimension, just a different time. You know that there are several different timelines and dimensions?" A confused shake of the head.

"No…I didn't know that. What do you mean?"

"I come from a timeline thirteen years in the future. There is a timeline and a dimension for every possibility of futures-a timeline where Vegeta-sie wasn't destroyed, a timeline where I wasn't even born…All manner of possibilities exist. In my timeline…the androids have been on the loose since I got to earth. They…They rule now. They've killed everyone who dares to stand up against them except me. I could destroy them with very little effort now, but if I do…If I do, the entire world could collapse. The androids destroyed our government, and now they are the government. Without government, we'll die…" She trailed off.

Trunks stood staring at her, not noticing she had stopped until she began to rock back and forth, murmuring useless nothings to the air. Her eyes were wide and empty, no sense of panic or even sorrow. He recognized that look on her face. It was the same look of "not there" that his mother often got when she thought too long or too hard about his father. He began to panic, struggling to think of what he did whenever his mother started to get that "not there" look. "Tamashii!! Tamashii!!" He practically shouted the name in her ear, but she didn't respond. He realized something as he began to shout her name again. She had told him that her real name was Takara, not Tamashii. He tried it. "Takara!!! Takara!!!!!" His voice verged now on hysterical. He reminded himself to breathe, reminded his heart to beat. Still, he let out the breath he had unknowingly begun to hold in an explosive gasp as she jumped.

"I'm okay!" she said sharply, then took a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm okay…" She took several more deep breaths, and he could clearly hear her, with his excellent Saiya-jin hearing, whispering the word "breathe" over and over to herself, as if she too had almost forgotten how. She shook herself, then looked at him, looking slightly embarrassed. "I'm sorry," she apologized, making him look at her with shock.

"For what?" he asked, baffled.

"For…that lapse. It's…I suppose I ought to explain?" She didn't want to confuse him more than he already clearly was. 

He nodded. His mother had, he realized, never explained those lapses to him; she had simply changed the subject. He had gathered that it had something to do with memory-triggered depression, but he had no idea how it worked. 

"It…When I start to talk about…my world…and the people close to me that have died, I-I go into a kind of world all my own, a world that takes away the pain. I guess…everyone goes into that little world, but for some people…people like me, I guess, who have seen so many people, everyone that they love, die…They go into that world, and they never want to come out, it's so safe. I do that when I start to talk about my world, and it takes a lot to pull me out, like when you shouted my name. No one's said my name except me since…Oh, gods, since before my fifth foster mother died." She broke into a storm of weeping, and he allowed her to collapse on his shoulder and cry. Almost three full hours later, when she had cried herself dry, she gently pulled herself away. She allowed herself only a moment to regain composure before starting her explanation again. "Every person I've ever allowed myself to get close to has been killed, most of them by the androids. Including every foster mother I've had since I arrived on earth when I was five. After Anna, my fifth foster mother, died a brutal death at the androids' hands and I transformed into Super Saiya-jin three, I built a kind of protective wall around myself. No one got in, and I was totally and utterly alone. I started to destroy myself from the inside out, and that was when I stopped. I volunteered at a shelter for young children who had escaped the massacres of their parents, and I was never really alone again. I kept that protective wall, letting no one get too close, and telling no one very much about myself. When people got too curious, I pretended amnesia. And that's how it's been for five years." She closed her eyes resolutely against another barrage of tears, and swallowed down the hard lump in her throat. "Gods…five years…That's been one hell of a long five years. And…I miss them. Kami, I miss them all so much!" First one tear, then two, fell down her cheeks before she wiped them angrily away. "I am not crying," she muttered to herself, firmly telling the lump that was still in her throat that it was **not** tears, and that she **didn't** feel like crying. Still. 

Trunks himself had to swallow hard. It reminded him of how he had felt when all of his friends had died, only he had still had his mother. Still did have his mother. Tamashii, or, as he thought of her more often no matter what she wanted to be called, Takara, had no one. She was completely and utterly alone. He held her close, and she only struggled a moment before surrendering and sinking into his welcoming embrace. He told himself that he shouldn't be doing this, shouldn't trust her, but the feeling in his heart told him otherwise. This **is** right, it told him. You **do **want this, and you **do** feel this way about her. Most importantly, his heart told him, **It's all right to feel this way**. The feeling should logically have been pity, and he told himself that it was, but he knew that it was something more, something deeper. Much deeper. And it scared him half to death. He had just met her! He shouldn't feel this way about someone he barely knew! But that she trusted him pleased him, and he knew that it **was**, in fact, all right to feel this way. He smiled down at her as her sobs lessened, and gently lay her on her bed. She would be all right. He would make sure of it. He took one last look at her calm body and left the room.

______________________________________________________________________________

AN: Hello, people. Took a really long time this time. Sorry 'bout that. It's really sucky, but I DON'T CARE!!!!! REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!! Bubyeeeee!!


	8. ...Of Illness

…Of Illness

…Of Illness

"Sickness to the body can be healed

But sickness to the heart can only be mended…"

Tamashii growled softly as she felt a slight twinge in her lower back, which gradually developed into an ache, and from there into **pain**. Intense pain. She opted not to get up, and instead simply turned onto her side to get the pressure off her back. "Damn," she muttered, "it's about time the thing grew back, but did it have to grow back **now**? This hurts to high heaven." Tears began to fall softly as she remembered the day her tail had been cut off. It had been the day Anna had died. She heard a small click, and managed to turn herself around so that she was on her other side, facing the door.

Mirai Trunks blushed. "Did I wake you?" he asked softly.

"I wasn't sleeping." Her voice cracked with another flash of intense pain. "Shit," she muttered under her breath.

"Are you okay?" He hadn't missed when she clenched her fists, nor the fact that her face was nearly as white as the guest-room sheets. Nor the fact that her eyes were red and she was crying softly.

"Fine. What are you here for?"

"Bulma-san asked me to figure out why you weren't down for breakfast."

"I'm not hungry," she lied. She was hungry, but she doubted she could stand at that particular moment. Trunks just looked at her, his expression worried.

"Saiya-jins are always hungry. What's wrong? You're crying."

She cursed again. "I'll be all right. You'll see at the end of the day what's wrong. My guess is that your father will already know." She wondered absently why his hadn't grown back yet, but finally just shrugged it off as unimportant. "Just leave; I'll get food at the end of the day. That will be around the time I can manage to walk again."

His concern grew. "I'll bring breakfast up," he offered.

"Don't bother; I need practice in going without food anyway. I haven't done it in a long time, and you never know how long you'll have to do without in battle. I'll get food when I can get out of bed on my own, and not before."

He sighed at her determination, but nodded. "All right." He knew exactly why she was doing this; Saiya-jins refused to except help from anyone unless they **absolutely** couldn't avoid it. He turned to leave.

"Oh, and ignore any sounds you hear coming from this room," she told him. Puzzled, he nodded. She turned to face the wall again. 

It was about midday that the screaming started. Loud, pain-filled screams, as she tossed and turned in her bed. It felt like her back was being torn apart, and no matter how deep a trance she went into, it didn't help. (AN: Trance is sort of like meditation, but in trance you're kind of half-conscious, where meditation is just deep thinking. _) The first time she screamed, Vegeta was the only one that kept the rest of the Z gang, including Mirai Trunks, from rushing up to check on her. "Don't," he warned. "Something very personal is going on up there, and if she didn't tell you what it was, then she doesn't want you to know yet. You'll know tonight. You can't help her anyway." And he would say nothing more about it. The screams continued until Trunks at last had to go outside, taking his mother with him. Finally, at about 6, they stopped. They had become more like hoarse shrieks, and then they stopped, presumably because her throat was too hoarse for her to continue. She came down at eight, pain lines around her eyes and mouth, and unable to speak above a whisper, but feeling much better than she had. She wore the same kind of simple spandex suit Vegeta wore, only in a pale white, and she had opted not to don the armor that late at night. She had a brown belt wrapped around her waist. The entire family was assembled in the living room, which startled her. She refused to show her surprise, and instead surveyed the group with a calm eye.

"I'm fine," she stated simply, and sat next on the arm of the chair Trunks was sitting on, because it was the only clear seat. 

Bulma stood, glaring angrily. Tamashii watched her calmly. "What the hell was going on up there?" she demanded. Tamashii unwound the brown "belt" from around her waist. 

"My tail grew back."

Bulma's eyes widened; Vegeta just nodded. "I thought so. I've never personally had to go through that just yet."

She smirked. "I **like **my tail, and I didn't appreciate having it cut off by…never mind…so I let it grow back. Very painful process. It'll be very useful later, if I need it. If not, it'll help my balance. I never really got that all the way back." They didn't need to know who, or rather, what, had cut it off just yet, though she saw Trunks nod. 

Vegeta growled. "By what, girl?"

Her gaze went steely. "**Don't **call me girl. You don't need to know what my tail was cut off by, and at the moment, I'm operating on a need to know basis. I'm fine now; you shouldn't have worried in the first place. If you don't mind, Bulma, I'm going to get something to eat." And that was that; she couldn't be coaxed into saying anything more. Trunks followed her silently into the kitchen, and set a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. It worked better than he'd hoped. With a startled exclamation, he found himself on his back with the wind knocked out of him and her sword, which she had not been wearing that he had seen, quivering at his throat. 

"Whoa. Calm down; it's just me," he said, chuckling softly.

She pulled her sword away from his throat and offered him her hand. He took it without thinking, but she pulled him up easily. "Sorry. Don't sneak up on me." She berated herself angrily; she should have known he was there. She needed to keep all her senses open. 

He blushed and looked at the ground. "I-I just wanted to know…" He paused.

"Spit it out, Trunks. It's not that hard." At least she felt comfortable enough around him to tease him.

"I just wanted to know if you would…Well, Vegeta-san said that you were really good at magic, and that you'd been doing some when you located me, and I just wanted to know if you could…teach me?"

She stared at him dumbly for a moment, then slowly shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know if you have Talent. I need you to relax, utterly and totally. Clear your mind completely, close your eyes, and hold fast. This is going to feel really strange." She closed her own eyes and rested a hand gently on his forehead, lowering her shields carefully and prodding his mind with hers when he nodded to tell her that he had done as she had asked. Mind-magics were a special talent all her own, from her father. All at once, she was flooded with memories and images that didn't belong to her. She pulled away abruptly with a cry and slammed her shields back up. "Damn it, I said clear your mind!! You almost killed me!!" she yelled angrily. He drew back.

"I-I'm sorry…I thought…"

"Oh Kami," she muttered to herself. Then, to him, "You've never done that before, have you?"

He shook his head. "N-no."

"All right." She sighed. "Think of complete blankness. Absolutely nothing can penetrate that blankness. There's nothing there; no memories, no nothing. Got it?"

A slow nod. She readied herself again, and this time she got in without any hindrances. She knew what she was looking for-an unblocked, hidden corner of his mind, that hadn't been used before, so was partially buried in "stuff." The "stuff" was knowledge that he had used, sort of like books. The ones you wanted but hadn't used before were always buried underneath newer that you used often. She found what she was looking for, though it wasn't quite all the way open, which meant he wouldn't be as strong as she was, and pulled out. She gave him a hard physical shake, and he jolted back into himself. "I can teach you. We'll start tomorrow. It'll be useful to have another sorcerer." With that, she disappeared, throwing back over her shoulder, "Be up and ready to go by eight o'clock sharp." He nodded, though he knew she couldn't see him, and followed her, headed to the rooms that Bulma had given him to get some sleep. He had a hunch he'd need all the rest and energy he could get. 


	9. ...Of Disaster

…Of Disaster

"Do nothing

If you are not prepared to take responsibility…"

Trunks woke to the sound of the alarm by his bed at seven thirty, reminding him that he had half an hour to get ready for his magic training session with Takara. He still refused to call her Tamashii, because he liked her true name so much better, and only called her Tamashii when they were around other people. He showered and dressed quickly, and hurried down the stairs to the kitchen for breakfast only to find Takara holding a baby in her arms, with a completely bewildered look on her face. Her new tail was firmly in the child's grasp, and her face was white with pain.

"Make it let go of my tail," she hissed through clenched teeth.

He smothered a chuckle and lifted…er…himself from her arms, pulling the child's fingers one by one from her tail. He noticed that she was glaring at him and turned the chuckle into a cough. "Sorry. How did you get him?"

"He was in my room when I woke up, attempting to eat the curtains. I picked him up and he fell asleep in my arms, clutching my tail. I was hoping that someone would be up to get his fingers loose. I've had him for the last half-hour." Color was slowly returning to her face.

"Does it really hurt that much?" he asked curiously. "Having your tail squeezed, I mean. Mine was cut off when I was a baby, so I wouldn't know."

"Yes. My tail is an extra appendage, attached by a bone that extends from my spine. It hurts like hell when someone squeezes it, and worse when someone pulls it hard. Especially since mine is new. I assume that you came down here for food, so get something to eat, then meet me outside. We're going to an island, the same place I contacted you on. You don't know where it is, so I'll have to take you there. I made eggs earlier; a lot of eggs. You have no idea how hard it is to make eggs with a kid in your arms. Anyway, there are enough left for you to have for your breakfast, and they should still be warm." She turned and exited, presumably to exercise before it was time to teach him. 

Trunks turned and headed into the kitchen, dropping the child off in his highchair when he got there. He found the eggs on the counter and devoured as quickly as only a Saiya-jin could, then took care of his dishes, took the baby back to his nursery, and went outside to tell his new sensei that he was ready to start his magic training. She smiled slightly at him, the slightest upturn of the corners of her mouth, and turned. 

"Follow me," was all she said, but her voice was firm, and he did as he was told. They landed, after a not-very-long flight, on a deserted island, fairly far from any populated areas. "Here will do."

His gaze was questioning, but he landed with her. 

"The first thing you have to do," she instructed patiently, "is sit down and relax. You need to learn to be able to relax no matter what." Following her direction, he closed his eyes and floated in the air, looking much like Piccolo when he meditated. She began to wander around, splashing the water and banging trees, making loud noises. The first time she made a noise, his eyes automatically flew open, and he nearly fell out of the sky. She looked at him calmly. "I told you that you'd need to be able to relax under any circumstances. After practice you won't even have to close your eyes, but for now this will do." He closed his eyes again, and she returned to making noises at unexpected moments. She continued this pattern for several hours, until she was confident he could relax almost anywhere. Then she told him to stop. He did so, and she motioned for him to sit beside her on the ground. 

"You did good." The praise was small, but he knew it meant a lot. 

"Thank you."

"You need to work on it a little bit, make it reflex. But for a first time, you did good. The next step," she stood again, "is reaching. You can't rely on your own reserves all the time. It takes too much energy to do that. Close your eyes and relax again, and feel the flow of energy around you. The energy of the earth is there, waiting for you to use it, you just have to know how." She didn't close her eyes, but she did the same as she had told him to do otherwise. "Reach out as far as you can, feel the power as far out as you can manage." He did so. "Open your eyes, but don't lose that energy."

Just as Trunks was doing as directed, a voice rang out. Loudly. "Hey, guys, you wanna spar?" Goku sounded amazingly cheerful. His voice startled them both, and it took all of Takara's training not to lash out at him with the power she could feel, that ready power. It always did when something startled her when she was concentrating on the power. It took a moment for her to realize that Trunks didn't have her training.

Trunks jumped, and lashed out with the power that was nearest, the power that he was almost touching. He grabbed it and, on instinct, hurled it at the intruder.

Takara was up in a flash. Literally. She went Super Saiya-jin easily and held herself back from going Super Saiya-jin 2. Neither power was needed, but they surfaced automatically when she was agitated or frightened, or angry. She was by Goku's side in less than a moment, and threw a shield in front of both of them. The shield absorbed the power that was thrown, instead of reflecting it back at Trunks, and she powered down, relieved. Goku stood dumbfounded, and Trunks looked horrified. Takara looked furious, but seemed to calm down slightly after a moment. She pulled herself out of Super Saiya-jin.

"That was something you never do," she told him, quite calm. "Don't react on instinct. React only on knowledge." She didn't yell, didn't scream, just smiled knowingly. "I did the same thing as a beginner, don't worry. You'll learn to control yourself." She was still angry, but yelling wouldn't help. "Don't act on instinct; act on knowledge only. You'll learn. That's enough for today; let's get back before Bulma kills both of us for being late for dinner."

Takara giggled a little, and Trunks joined her with a nervous chuckle after a moment. Goku just smiled and agreed that he had better get to dinner at his own home, and this statement was followed by a loud grumbling from his stomach, which sent both Trunks and Takara into wild laughter. With the joyful, for once carefree laughter to follow both of them, they left, with Goku waiting to wave madly at them until they were well out of the Saiya-jin's view before he actually did teleport away. Slowly, Trunks still blushing hotly at his mistake that had nearly cost Goku at the very least injury, Takara and Trunks followed.


	10. NOT CHAP, BUT IMPORTANT*Author Note!*

*Author's Note*

Okay, here's the deal. So far, I've gotten hardly any reviews for this story. That makes me think that you guys don't like it. So, if I don't get at least ten reviews, the next chapter's not gonna come out, and I'm gonna take this story off. I don't see any sense in working to get this story out if you guys aren't even gonna read and review it to tell me what you think. So, thank you very much to everyone that has reviewed so far, and to all you people that haven't, I suggest if you like it that you do before I take it off completely.

Just a warning! Ja ne!!!!!!!


	11. DISCONTINUED 'TIL FURTHER NOTICE!!!!

This fanfiction has been discontinued until further notice.

Okay, I warned you guys, and no one reviewed, so the fic has been discontinued until I say otherwise. Sorry for those of you who liked it, but you didn't review, so I'm assuming…that there aren't that many people that do like it, if any.

You can still check out my others if you like, or e-mail me at Juu56@aol.com for another chapter of the fic if you *really* like it. 

See ya!! 


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